Short conversation between a father and eight-year old son……Part I

Son: No Papa, I mean – do you want me to be an engineer? Doctor? Scientist? Inventor? Pilot? That is what I am asking you.

Father: It does not matter what job you want to do, I want you to be happy.

Son: Papa, you are not answering me correctly. I do not want you to tell me – I want you to be happy. I want you to tell me, like Engineer? Doctor?

Father: Son, I really mean it, I want you to be happy – I don’t care what job you want to do.

The Father notices a confusion on his son’s face. He hopes that one day his beloved son would understand what he is saying to him.

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I had the above conversation with my son recently. It opened up my eyes to another possibility: It could have been me, at my age (41 now!), talking with my father!

The same conversation would hold true even then, excepting few minor details……

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Me: Papa, what do you want me to be when I am 50 years?

My Father: Son, I want you to be happy.

Me: No Papa. I want to ask you – do you want to see me as a CEO of a company? A famous doctor in town? An inventor who has 20 patents to my credit? A successful entrepreneur with tons of money in the bank account?

My Father: It does not matter to me what you do in life, I want you to be happy, that’s it.

Me: No Papa, you are not answering me correctly. I want to figure out where I want to put my energies into – and become successful.

My Father: Son, I really mean it, I want you to be happy – I don’t care what job you want to do, how much money you have in the bank account or how popular you are in the society. I just want you to be happy.

My father notices the same confusion on my face and wondering, “Hey!, I tried to tell this guy what truly matters since he has been eight years…..and he still does not seem to grasp it!”

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Age does not matter. Irrespective of our age, I think we don’t truly realize, what we want.

We all wish to be happy. All our well wishers care for us to be happy. Period.

Nothing else. But we hardly are able to recognize that wish.

I think that is the one ideal worth living for.Not titles, not money, not fame, not power…….

How does it matter what we are doing?

How does it matter, how much money we are earning?

How does it matter what status we have in the society as long as we are happy?